Ellington at Newport is a 1956 live jazz album by Duke Ellington and his band of their 1956 concert at the Newport Jazz Festival, a concert which revitalized Ellington's flagging career. Jazz promoter George Wein describes the 1956 concert as "the greatest performance of [Ellington's] career... It stood for everything that jazz had been and could be." It is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, which ranks it "one of the most famous... in jazz history" The original release was partly recreated in the studio after the Ellington Orchestra's festival appearance. Ellington released a follow-up album also recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival, Newport 1958, two years later. In 2022, the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Exceptional. They certainly don't make music like this anymore. And I will overlook that some of the "live music" was recreated in the studio (including fake applause). Paul Gonsalves’ epic solo during Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue simply has to be heard to be believed.
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Pinnacle of jazz right here. Introduce your friends who don't know/like jazz to this album, and they'll be hooked. Favorite track: Festival Junction
I mean, shit, I don't think I've ever heard a solo on the level of the solo in "Dimineuendo And Crescendo In Blue". The energy here is unmatched, and you can tell the crowd was feeling it. Insane performance. Favorite tracks: "Dimineuendo And Crescendo In Blue", "Festival Junction"
By the time of the Duke's Newport appearance in 1956, big bands were in the process of being, or already were, passé. The pre-World War II relic of jazz sophistication gave way to shorter groups, with trios and quartets, quintets and maybe even sextets becoming de rigueur and Duke had next to no room to occupy space. Newport '56 was a reminder of who he was, why he commanded the respect justly given to him and how he remained integral to the status that jazz had obtained in the decades past and present. If he and his band were percieved as though they were on the downward slope, they don't sound like it, as they are as vibrant and radiant as they were in their heyday, with Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue, Take the "A" Train and Skin Deep riding the ship on towards land and into cheering arms. A magnificent document of a triumphant comeback, may we love him madly.
So much incredible music on this more than 2 hours long collection. This band absolutely cooks. 5 stars
Man, this joint is jumpin'! It's a wonderful mix of hot, frenetic, swing and cool, sexy, blues. And just to make it all sink in just a little deeper, make sure to listen to the full live version of the album.
I love trumpet 5/5
Hard to rate the Duke anything less than 5 stars. Obviously a bit disappointing to learn there is a mixture of studio recording here but hey it's still fucking amazing.
Jazz great!
5/5 exciting and amazing
Probablemebt un des meilleir album jazz que j'ai ecoute depuis un mechant bout 5
Getting all the good ones now 😩
Loved all two hours of this. Great live jazz album with awesome bits of chat in between.
Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue is worth the price of admission alone. An incredible recording, jazz which is life-giving, vital and infectious. A truly extraordinary piece of work from the maestro. Music would sound very different without him.
Phenomenal orchestration. As always, Duke Ellington and company show themselves to be the best at what they do. The improvisations are simply amazing and the prepared portions are played with such subtlety and precision. These are people who are so locked into each other, that their music functions as a breathing organism and responds to changes and cues as a whole. The crowd is absolutely frenetic, a testament to the power of this live performance.
Wonderful! I love jazz so much and this is a really good example.
I hope that over time the music lovers of the world will realize that Duke Ellington belongs in the same conversation as Bach and a small handful of other generationally or century-level composers (setting aside his ridiculous talents as an arranger, leader, conductor, and performer, each of which is worthy of lengthy exploration and adulation). This album is absolutely phenomenal and on its own would be worthy of this and any list of greats. Put in the greater context of Duke Ellington's lifetime of work and we're up on another plane of existence, creativity, and expression. The influence of his music and work goes much further, broader, and deeper than we can really know. Even when we're enjoying a contemporary pop song, or a celebrated punk tune, or a Broadway number, or hip-hop groove, or almost anything in the past near-century or so, much of it can be traced back to Duke Ellington. Epic. Legendary. Duke.
This album is a great reminder that jazz was a living, breathing genre of music. It was born in an age when live music was king, long before a musical album was a concept. It’s music for improvising, music for dancing, and music for living in the moment. This is also one of those albums where the context greatly enhances the music: the fact that this revitalized his flagging career, and the amazing marathon saxophone solo
Jazz is a genre that works for me best as background music. This is really great and seminal jazz though. Definitely belongs in the book.
JAZZZ
Now this is the kind of royalty I can get behind. This swings man. Dig it.
The year Jazz clicked for me. Great album.
Paul Gonsalvez single-handedly revitalized Ellington’a career. No I will not elaborate. Standout Songs: “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue”
Wow. I’ve listened to this several times. Despite my previous review, and maybe my lack of culture, a lot of the jazz sounded quite similar, but even this you could feel the technical skill that went into it. It’s a live album and the crowd love it. My favourite is Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue. The saxophonist plays a 27 chorus solo and the vibe through your makes your hair stand on end. I’ve always appreciated jazz but would never consider myself wise or knowledgeable. I couldn’t name any jazz tracks to even recommend someone however this album is a fantastic introduction and I’m glad I have heard it
Fabulous
Love this Album for years and years already
Well... The Star Spangled Banner .......Really! Take the A Train, a classic, Mood Indigo,,,wow,,, Great album at a time when he was a great. Sir Duke at his best. Love this.
When I saw this album come up I was horrified that I would have to listen to such a long jazz album, I predicted it would be a 2-hour chore. However, the music was sublime and the talent was outstanding. The pseudo-live editing helped to make it all come together and give some sense of the pandemonium (I pretended not to know how much of it had been put together in a studio)! The whole time I was listening I was imagining old Tom & Jerry cartoons for some reason - guess the music is similar to the old soundtracks they used back then? I would definitely listen to this again and I was amazed how much I was moved by something recorded in the 1950s, the era of "bad" music.
Enjoyable. A Train and Sophisticated Lady are my two favorite Duke tunes.
This was much better than I anticipated.
A well recorded jazz concert from the 1950’s.
I’m certainly not the audience for this so it is hard to fairly assess it. It doesn’t feel particularly progressive given what Miles Davis was doing at the same time, but my jazz knowledge is pretty limited. I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.
Ellington is obviously one of the greats. Listening to these old concert recordings is always fun to hear how people spoke back then. Live sound is really different from the recordings back then as well
It's Ellington, so thoroughly professional and entertaining, but nothing out of the ordinary. Although, for Ellington, ordinary is most other people's greatness.
very good, liked it a lot.
Good jazz
Shoutout to Duke, just a great artist
Chilll
Need a jazz revival ASAP
Jazz
Acredito que seja um Jazz do bom, deixei de fundo enquanto trabalhava, escutei sem problema algum.
Standard (no pun intended) jazz album of the jazz great.
Vauh on energiaa yleisössä ja biisit napsuu napsuu Newport purjeduskaupunki ei petä, lautaset ja lasit kilisee ja kolisee ja jokaiselle jazz likille HUUDETAAN yleisöstä.. Huhhuh..
Spectacular writing and musicianship. The tunes kinda sound like a burlesque soundtrack.
Very nice. Felt like I was a part of a different time. Not a huge jazz fan but this was good
8/10 - nice jazz album
It took a bit to get into this (maybe someone should remaster the intro speech so it doesn't sound like my walkman is about to chew the tape). Now onto the rest of the album. It starts off sedate enough, a throwback to the big band sound. Then the party gets started. It gets wild towards the end and I can imagine people dancing on tables
Holy hell the trumpet player is incredible. Hard to believe this was recorded live, if it wasn't for the banter in between.
Zalige livemuziek. Het voelt zeer geapprecieerd door het publiek aan ook
Not normally a huge jazz fan as it feels too technically chaotic and doesn't hit that "cool swing" vibe for me often enough. This is as close as i've had to the finger snapping swing vibe that works for me. Enjoyed... and the solo in Diminuendo is pretty epic.
hot damn these cats were cooking!! my favorite part was when the audience started to riot
Live jazz fra 50’erne, rimelig godt
The performance stands on its own, but I like to think of it as a foil to Muddy Waters' 1960 set at the same festival. The contrast of the old guard, represented by Ellington (which is, again, outstanding), with Waters' new way is striking and makes me appreciate the latter even more. Best track: Festival Junction
I think that the interludes are entirely unnecessary, but it's an absolutely fantastic album.
Not a big jazz guy but this is pretty awesome. I do enjoy good jazz if it’s live and the atmosphere is right, and this checks both of those boxes. Would have been amazing to be there in person. I love hearing an entire concert, especially one where the quality is this high throughout. 4 stars.
I listened to the original 5 track album. Very good fun jazz. Superb soloing. Beautiful smooth bass sax and trumpet soloing. Mostly fast danceable rhythm. Really very good.
A live Swing album with some extended improvisational passages. The good book says that it was revolutionary in its day. For more modern ears, it's still pleasant enough for some background listening, even without being a fan of the genre. 3.5/5
Really nice Jazz album by a master. Born in 1899 he was active on the music scene for much of the early American Swing and Jazz era. There are not many music lovers that have never heard of Duke Ellington. Not something I'd listen to often, but it is great! 4/5
Listened to the original 5 track release, not the 1999 complete 2 hour performance. Pretty nice. 3.5/5
Electrifying set... even if some of it is studio work.
I really like jazz
Fantastic. More Jazz please!
Nice jazz for a Saturday afternoon while cleaning and babysitting on your daughter 😉
Not exposed to Jazz much. I linked it a lot but the put-on 1950s transatlantic accent is really grating.
Waouw.. have never been a big fan of big band jazz, but this one here is magic! Powerful
Today is the perfect day for a jazz album. It's a cold and rainy Sunday, perfect for popping this live album on and giving it a listen! Apparently, the original recording of this live performance had an issue where one of the horn players was playing into the wrong mic so none of his stuff got recorded. Duke was told this, and they headed into the studio the Monday after the show, and re-recorded the messed up tracks, and added canned applause in to seamlessly blend the live, and studio parts together on the album. They did a great job of this, because I couldn't tell where it switched from live to studio recording. The song Diminuendo in Blue is 14 minutes of pure gold. The songs leading up to it were kind of slow, and this song just turned everything up to 11, and they proceeded to blow the roof off of the festival grounds! Duke told the sax player to solo for as long as he wanted, so the dude played 27 choruses, then collapsed because he had soloed for so long. That's bad ass! I can't hear the name Duke Ellington now without thinking of the ghost who lives in the attic of Nick Birch's house in the show Big Mouth. This music reminds me a lot of the jazz featured in the game Mafia. Overall, a phenomenal epic of jazz! It is one of the longer records, at just over 2 hrs of runtime, but it is absolutely worth the listen. There were so many talented musicians in one spot. The live recording captured lightning in a bottle with this performance. Glad I took the time to sit down and absorb this one. Absolutely something I would listen to again. Maybe not cover to cover, but in the background during a dinner party or while cooking for sure! Favourite songs: Diminuendo in Blue, Tulip or Turnip, Jeep's Blues, Part 3 - Newport Up, "Day In, Day Out", Black and Tan Fantasy, Tea for Two Least favourite songs: I Got it Bad (And That Ain't Good) 4/5
I struggle with jazz but this is of course good. Ellington was brilliant.
Jazz you know: I like it but don't think I exactly understand it, above a superficial level. I liked this fine, the version I was listening to was not great fidelity-wise. I can't say it stood out for me.
Best Song: Skin Deep. Who doesn't like a drum solo? Worst Song: Pt.1 - Festival Junction. That solo at the end is just needlessly shrill. Overall: This really feels like a time capsule that's difficult to appreciate in the modern era. The jazz is nice, but the crowd seems to be losing their goddamn minds over it. Had they just never experienced anything remotely progressive/transgressive before? It gave the strange sense that I was missing something when I heard how extreme of a reaction the crowd had to the music.
OMG this was long... I think I could've watched the whole movie Whiplash in this time (which I would've preferred)
I'm not a huge Jazz person, but I do like Big Band music. In this case, the focus on brass instrumentation is pretty cool.
I like jazz but don’t know much about it, so it’s hard for me to tell what’s “good”. I liked listening to this but could’ve done without the extended introduction.
Very old, a genre I still don't quite understand, a slightly messy live recording, much too long (at least the linked Spotify version), but still pretty magical at points.
Two 2-hour live albums in a row? Not sure what I did to deserve THAT but whatever, maybe this will be really good? Looks like old timey jazz by the cover. They didn't have much imagination in the 50s. Starting with the star spangled banner and a spoken word introduction: spare me, cut this shit out. Not off to a good start for a 2 hour album. After that it just jazzes on for a long time. Not bad, but again: 2 fuckin' hours. Every second song gets an introduction, lots of jazz things going on. 3/5 because the music was actually pretty enjoyable, but fuck the length was pushing it.
It's not really a bad album, it's just way too long. Honestly though Eben if it were leaner in run time this gets fixed under "stuff that's fine to hear, but I would never choose on my own"
Not bad. I liked the jazzier jazz.
not my kind of jazz but good still
It was a good jazz album, but it also could have been a very good aid to put me to sleep.
⚠️ WARNING! If you search for this album on Spotify, the first thing that comes up is the 2 hour version. You don't have to listen to all that jazz (ha), because the original 1956 LP was only 40 minutes long. Look for the playlist by the user "josesanzgc" instead. TL;DR: If the version you're listening to starts with the Star Spangled Banner, that's the wrong version. Man, I kinda hate the fact that this album is actually pretty good, because now I can't make my review: "Duke Ellington? More like Duke Smellington".
Good humored, cheeky sounding jazz tunes.
Very energetic, must have been fantastic to hear this live. On record I'm not so convinced.
Nice, smooth and soulful jazz album
Nice live set. Another album I'd never have listened to if it weren't for the 1001 journey.
Pretty inoffensive band jazz. Representative of what it is and evocative of the times. Not sure about the shrill trumpet/cornet? Maybe Glen Miller is more my thing.
Another good jazz album but I still don't 'get' jazz. This is much more trad- it's all standards and very well played and pleasant.
Jazz hands!! Ba ba ba BAAAA!
Solid live jazz album. The artistry and interstitials were notable here, just a lot of music to take in all at once and fully appreciate at once
Cool Jazz
Classic great jazz. But to be honest there were some challenging gnawing points that I had trouble with. As much as I think I like jazz, my palette is a bit unrefined.
Big band not really my thing, but there were some nice jazzier numbers. Quite the crowd, one of the tracks is Riot Prevention and I get the sense it literally was. Must have been a scene.
It is a jazz album. It was alright but I don't think I would seek this album out again.
grooved to this
Way too long
dudes were as cool as cool as cool
Top 3 Songs: 1 - Newport Up (13) 2 - Diminuendo In Blue (19) 3 - Festival Junction (31)
While the musicianship is great, I’ve always found this era of big band/swing to be very boring. Overrated in my opinion.
old school cool
Lots of paaaah papapapapaaaah paaaah!
Didn’t really listen - not spending 2hrs 7 mins of life on this.
An interesting concept, but the 'fake live' aspect really ruined it for me I think. Def there is some great musicianship and a whole bunch of musical arrangement/structure/performance that I just don't understand haha this 40's swing band stuff just escapes me still. There are a few moments on here that are a bit more 'blue' that seem to have aged better and are interesting. And speaking as someone who has played a brass instrument (poorly) I know how hard it is to make them sound /good/ like this - these folks were dedicated to their craft and performing at the top of their game. Unfortunately this music just doesn't speak to me.